Young Australian of the Year

Nominee

2019 QLD Young Australian of the Year Nominee

Mikhara Ramsing

State: Queensland

Mikhara Ramsing has founded two social enterprises – Ground Chai, which sells chai to fund skills workshops for rural and regional high school students, and Ethnic LGBT+, Australia’s first national website providing resources, support and a safe place for culturally and linguistically diverse LGBT+ people to share their stories.

As a queer South African Indian Australian woman, Mikhara Ramsing understands what it's like to feel invisible – and has used this experience to create social change. She has founded two social enterprises – Ground Chai, which sells chai to fund skills workshops for rural and regional high school students, and Ethnic LGBT+, Australia's first national website providing resources, support and a safe place for culturally and linguistically diverse LGBT+ people to share their stories.

A courageous trailblazer who believes in the life-saving power of storytelling, Mikhara left her secure corporate job with the vision of reducing youth suicide. Using her own funds, she travelled 40,000 km around Australia in a tiny home built on the back of trailer to hear the stories and challenges of 72 rural communities. In 2018 alone, she worked personally with 190 young women from refugee and migrant backgrounds, giving them tools to become self-sufficient. An empathetic leader, she is one of 2018's ten Westpac Social Change Fellows.